Oscar. Wilde

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Indiana

A Book of Quotations

Epigrams, aphorisms, and other bon mots gathered from the celebrated wit's plays, essays, and conversation offer an entertaining selection of observations both comic and profound. Organized by category, the nearly 400 quotes range in subject from human nature, morals, and society to art, politics, history, and more.

Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom

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Louisiana

The Portrait of Mr. W. H. (Mini Book)

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Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

California

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, the magazine's editor deleted roughly five hundred words before publication without Wilde's knowledge. Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the story for book publication the following year. The longer and revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray published in book form in 1891 featured an aphoristic preface--a defence of the artist's rights and of art for art's sake--based in part on his press defences of the novel the previous year. The content, style, and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own right, as a literary and artistic manifesto. In April 1891, the publishing firm of Ward, Lock and Company, who had distributed the shorter, more inflammatory, magazine version in England the previous year, published the revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Source: Wikipedia

The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Illinois

Sparkling repartee enlivens this witty comedy in which a model of social rectitude learns from an unexpected source the difference between true morality and its appearance.

Lady Windermere's Fan

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New York

Packaged in handsome and affordable trade editions, Clydesdale Classics is a new series of essential literary works. From the musings of literary geniuses like Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the striking personal narrative of Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, this new series is a comprehensive collection of our literary history through the words of the exceptional few.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's masterpiece and lone novel, has endured as a significant piece of literature partly due to its philosophical nature and artful prose, and partly because of the stir it caused upon its initial publication. Published originally in 1890 in Lippincott's Magazine, The Picture of Dorian Gray--often deemed by Wilde's contemporaries to be "indecent"--tells the story of an attractive young man eponymous with the title who desires to be eternally young. Dorian is the subject of a portrait by a painter named Basil Hallward, who deems Gray's beauty to be inconceivably great. Rather than having to age himself, young and egotistical Dorian longs for the painting to age instead so that he can remain young and beautiful. When he sells his soul in exchange for eternal youth--a concept Wilde derived from the German legend of Faust--Dorian begins a life of vice and debauchery with its sole aim being pleasure. Meanwhile, the painting documents each of his sins within its appearance. When Dorian confronts the painting again with Hallward, a slew of unfortunate events unfold.

Abundant with rich, philosophical themes and commentary, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic tale that warns its readers of the dangers that come with narcissism, self-indulgence, and ignorance.

Kansas

'The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.'When Dorian Gray has his portrait painted, he is captivated by his own beauty. Tempted by his world-weary, decadent friend Lord Henry Wotton, he wishes to stay forever young, and pledges his very soul to keep his good looks. Set in fin-de-siecle London, the novel traces a path from the studio ofpainter Basil Hallward to the opium dens of the East End. As Dorian's slide into crime and cruelty progresses he stays magically youthful, while his beautiful portrait changes, revealing the hideous corruption of moral decay.Ever since its first publication in 1890 Wilde's only novel has remained the subject of critical controversy. Acclaimed by some as an instructive moral tale, it has been denounced by others for its implicit immorality. Combining elements of the supernatural, aestheticism, and the Gothic, ThePicture of Dorian Gray is an unclassifiable and uniquely unsettling work of fiction.

Oscar Wilde

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

(Barnes and Noble Collectible Classics: Flexi Edition)

A new series of classic fiction in flexi leather-look binding.

Some yellowing at the edges of the pages, as shown.

A selection of fiction, drama, and prose by the controversial late nineteenth-century literary figure includes the chilling novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, as well as his account of his prison experience, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," and four complete plays--Lady Windermere's Fan, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Salomé. Reissue.

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings

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Gary Schmidgall

Slight wear on front cover and previous owner's name inside.

Idaho

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Short Stories

Alabama

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman inthe eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succès de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb.

Massachusetts

Kentucky

A handsome, dissolute man who sells his soul for eternal youth is horrified to see the reflection of his degeneration in the distorted features of his portrait.

Michigan

The full text of Oscar Wilde's beloved comedy of manners, including exclusive commentary, selections from Wilde's correspondence, and excerpts from the original four-act version.

The Importance of Being Earnest shows a full measure of Oscar Wilde's legendary wit, and embodies more than any of his other plays his decency and warmth. 



This edition contains substantial excerpts from the original four-act version which was never produced, as well as the full text of the final three-act version, selections from Wilde's correspondence, and commentary by George Bernard Shaw, Max Beerbohm, St. John Hankin, and James Agate.

"It is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy and it has its philosophy; that we should treat all trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality." -Oscar Wilde



The Importance of Being Earnest

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Tennessee

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader!=s notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde's wry wit and elaborate plot twists.Oscar Wilde's madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers? entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades.Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gewndolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack's ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack's country home on the same weekend'the "rivals" to fight for Ernest's undivided attention and the "Ernests" to claim their beloveds'pandemonium breaks loose.Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day

Florida

Maryland

Witty and buoyant comedy of manners is brilliantly plotted from its effervescent first act to its hilarious denouement, and filled with some of literature's most famous epigrams. Widely considered Wilde's most perfect work, the play is reprinted here from an authoritative early British edition. Note to the Dover Edition.

Entranced by the perfection of his recently painted portrait, the youthful Dorian Gray expresses a wish that the figure on the canvas could age and change in his place. When his wish comes true, the portrait becomes his hideous secret as he follows a downward trajectory of decadence and cruelty that leaves its traces only in the portrait's degraded image.

Dorian Gray, a handsome young man, receives a beautiful painting of himself from his good friend Basil Hallward. In the same moment, a new acquaintance, Lord Henry, introduces Dorian to the ideals of youthfulness and hedonism, of which Gray becomes immediately obsessed. Meanwhile, the painting in Dorian's possession serves as a constant reminder of his passing beauty and youth, driving his obsession.

Washington

The launch of the Sterling Signature Classics program. Sterling will roll out six new Signature Classics each season. When handsome young Dorian Gray sees a painter's stunning portrait of him, he is transfixed by its reflection of his own beauty. He is also troubled by the knowledge that the image in the painting will remain forever youthful and handsome while he himself grows older and less desirable. He wishes aloud that the roles were reversed, saying that he would give his soul if only the painting would suffer the ravages of time and he were to remain forever young. From that point on, Dorian lives a life of hedonistic indulgence, knowing that only the painting will show his moral corruption.

Texas

Oscar Wilde is one of the most quoted and quotable men in history. He once boasted that he could talk spontaneously on any subject, a claim effortlessly borne out by the range and scope of the examples collected in this book. It is an entertaining, instructive, and revealing look at a man who is unlikely ever to be forgotten. "Oscar Wilde," wrote Richard Ellmann, "we have only to hear the great name to anticipate that what will be quoted as his will surprise and delight us. His wit is an agent of renewal, as pertinent now as a hundred years ago."

The Wit of Oscar Wilde

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Let me know if you have any questions!

(Rubik's cube not included.)

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Virginia

Spellbound before his own portrait, Dorian Gray utters a fateful wish. In exchange for eternal youth he gives his soul, to be corrupted by the malign influence of his mentor, the aesthete and hedonist Lord Henry Wotton. The novel was met with moral outrage by contemporary critics who, dazzled perhaps by Wilde's brilliant style, may have confused the author with his creation, Lord Henry, to whom even Dorian protests, 'You cut life to pieces with your epigrams.'. Encouraged by Lord Henry to substitute pleasure for goodness and art for reality, Dorian tries to watch impassively as he brings misery and death to those who love him. But the picture is watching him, and, made hideous by the marks of sin, it confronts Dorian with the reflection of his fall from grace, the silent bearer of what is in effect a devastating moral judgement.

The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation.

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Oscar. Wilde

Oscar Wilde's Wit and Wisdom

Oscar. Wilde

The Portrait of Mr. W. H. (Mini Book)

Oscar. Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar. Wilde

Lady Windermere's Fan

Oscar. Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Short Stories

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar. Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar. Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar. Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar. Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar. Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar. Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar. Wilde

The Wit of Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest